Paper security validation apparatus



Aug. 19, 1969 J. E. BAYHA PAPER SECURITY VALIDATION APPARATUS Filed Nov. 22, 1966 JNVENTOR. JACK E. BAYHA United States Patent 3,462,225 PAPER SECURITY VALIDATION APPARATUS Jack E. Bayha, Chesterland, Ohio, assignor to Transmarine Corporation, Chesterland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 529,750, Feb. 24, 1966. This application Nov. 22, 1966, Ser. No. 596,141

Int. Cl. G06k 9/08; G01n 21/16; G07f 1/06 US. Cl. 356-71 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An apparatus is provided for authentication of paper securities by moving a reticle transversely to the direction of linear movement of a paper security to be authenticated triggered by the movement of the security or the means carrying the security. The mechanical apparatus including cam action to achieve such transverse movement of the reticle relative to the security is covered by the invention.

This invention relates to an apparatus for authentication of paper securities, and more particularly, to an apparatus for receiving and identifying as genuine a piece of paper money by measuring the parallel printed lines, generally either horizontal, or vertical, or combinations thereof, appearing behind the portrait in the paper money or other finely engraved portions of the currency, which may be followed by the performance of a vending function. This application is a continuation-in-part of my application Ser. No. 529,750, filed Feb. 24, 1966.

It has been found, as pointed out in greater detail in myabove-identified application, that the background of the portrait on the US. currency is made up of parallel equally spaced horizontal and vertical lines. For example, the background behind George Washington on a US. one dollar bill has 120 lines per inch both in a horizontal and vertical direction.

It is the general object of the present invention to disclose a new validating technique for paper securities and apparatus for performing such technique which effectively measures the spacing and clarity of the vertical, horizontal, or any substantially equally spaced printed lines on any finely engraved portion in a paper security to determine whether they meet predetermined standards.

It is another object of the invention to provide apparatus for moving the test devices of the invention transversely to the sliding movement of the security to be tested in the testing area in order that the test devices can simultaneously check for test validation purposes the parallel, equally spaced horizontal and vertical lines on the security.

The aforesaid object of the invention and other objects which will become apparent as the description proceeds, are achieved by providing in an apparatus for authentication of paper securities having substantially parallel, equally spaced straight lines on some portion thereof, the combination of frame means defining a testing area, means movably received by the frame means to receive a security to be validated, said means being movable relative to the testing area, reticle means positioned in the testing area in close spaced relation to the portion of the security having the substantially parallel lines when the security is moved relative to the testing area, said reticle means having equally spaced substantially parallel lines substantially equal to the lines on the security and being in substantially parallel relation to the lines on the security, means to move said reticle means transversely to the sliding movement of the security in the testing area simultaneously thereto whereby the reticle creates lightdark area effect because of transverse movement of the "ice lines on the security to the lines on the reticle when the security is moved in the testing area.

For a better understanding of the invention reference should be had to the accompanying drawing which is an enlarged perspective view, partially broken away, showing the apparatus of the invention.

It should be noted that the apparatus of the invention is primarily designed for determining the genuineness of U.S. paper money in lower denominations. For example, one dollar, five dollar and then dollar bills. It should be understood, however, that the testing apparatus is not limited thereto but can be used for authentication of any document which has very closely equally spaced lines, generally horizontal and/or vertical parallel lines on some portion thereof, which lines normally fall in the background of a portrait on the paper security.

With reference to the figure, the numeral 10 generally indicates the frame means which define the testing area of the invention. Of course, it should be realized that the testing area defined by the frame means 10 illustrates only a particular portion or segment of the bill changing apparatus, with the entire apparatus being described and shown in full detail by my application Ser. No. 529,750.

A bill slide, generally indicated by the numeral 14, is guided in sliding relation to the testing area of frame 10 by top flanges 11 and a pair of bottom rollers 12 mounted on each side of the frame 10. The bill slide 14 has a recessed bill chamber 16 which is adapted to receive a bill or a paper security. A bill or security can be properly and accurately positioned in the bill chamber 16 by referring to the design on the bottom side of a clear plastic central portion 18 of chamber 16.

Due to the flanges 11 and rollers 12 being slightly inclined out of the horizontal, the bill slide 14 is angled downwardly slightly in relation to the frame 10. This readily facilitates the drainage of any fluids, such as water, which may accumulate in the bill support chamber, when the apparatus is utilized for outdoor use, because a slot 19 is provided at the front edge of the chamber 16.

A cam member 32 which forms a lateral extension of the slide 14 is mounted thereto by suitable screws 33. The cam member 32 is made of a durable, high-strength plastic and it is adapted to slide in a slot 30 provided in side wall 10a of the frame means 10. As illustrated by FIGURE 1, the outer surface of the cam member 32 is inclined and irregular so that it has a recessed center portion 34 which is terminated at one end by a shoulder or stop 36 and at the other end by a relatively sharp incline 38.

In order to move the test devices utilized in the security validation system transversely to the movement of the bill slide 14 and relative to the testing area, one end of a second cam member 40 is slidably received by the center portion 34 of the cam member 32. The other end of cam 40 is fixedly mounted to a rod member 42 which is slidably received by the frame means 10 and extends between the sides 10a and 10b thereof; Rod member 42 extends through and is held by a pair of aligned holes 43 provided, respectively, in frame sides 10a and 10b. In order to bias the cam member 40 inwardly so that it is firmly in sliding contact with the center portion 34 of the first cam member 32, a helically wound compression spring 44 is slidably received by rod member 42 and is bottomed against side frame 10a and the test devices of the apparatus.

As can be readily visualized, manually sliding the bill slide 14 inwardly will thus effect movement of cam member 32 in relation to the fixed cam 40. Further, as cam member 32 continues its slide inwardly, cam 40 slides along the outer surface of the cam member 32 and climbs incline 38 of cam member 32. Since cam member 40 is relatively inflexible and extends substantially radially from rod 42, movement of the cam 40 up incline 38 forces cam 40 outwardly to effect a longitudinal movement of rod member 42 in a direction of arrow 50a. Since the test devices of the apparatus, which will be explained in greater detail hereinafter, are fixedly mounted to the rod member 42, this longitudinal movement thereof as cam 40 moves up the inclined surface 38 of cam member 32 achieves a sliding movement of the test devices of the invention perpendicular or transverse to the sliding movement of the bill slide 14 in the testing area. Further, since cam 32 will begin to slide inwardly as bill side 14 is pushed into the testing area, this transverse movement of the testing devices will occur simultaneously with the inward sliding movement of the bill slide.

The actual workings of test devices utilized in the security validation apparatus are explained in great detail in my application Ser. No. 529,750, and, as a result, they will only be mentioned and not fully described herein since the main object of the present invention relates to apparatus for achieving movement of the test devices transverse to the movement of the bill slide relative to the testing area. The test devices, generally indicated by the numeral 46, are mounted to the rod 42 as by suitable set screws 48. Each test device 46 has mounted therein a viewing tube 50 which has received therein a reticle 51, as seen in the broken away portion of tube 50 on the right which is adapted to be positioned in closely spaced adjacent relationship to the top surface of a security placed in bill chamber 16 when bill slide 14 is slid into the testing area. The reticle has straight equally spaced vertical or horizontal parallel lines substantially equal in number per inch to the parallel lines on the security to be tested. The lines in the reticle are substantially parallel to the horizontal or vertical lines on the security, the reticle creates lightdark effects caused by a matching of either the horizontal or vertical lines. These light-dark effects are utilized to test the validity of the security.

Roller means 52 mounted to the forward ends of the test devices firmly press down against the security contained in the bill chamber 16 as the bill slide 14 is moved into the testing area. It should be noted that as the cam member 40 slides along the inclined outer surface of the cam member 52, a slight rotation is imparted to cam 40 and thus rod 42 which tends to are the roller members 52 downwardly biasing engagement with the security contained within the bill slide '14. Also, of course, the spring 44 constantly tends to bias the roller means 52 into contact with the bill, or in a direction indicated by arrow 52a.

A suitable limit switch 54 is mounted to the frame means adjacent to the end of the slot 30 and it is adapted to stop or limit the forward sliding movement of the cam 32 therein, and also to provide actuation to the validation circuit. It should be noted that actuation of the validation circuit by switch 54 occurs before the cam action provides the transverse movement of rod 42. It is only when the full transverse movement is completed that cam 32 engages the body of switch 54 to limit the inward movement of the bill slide 14. Assuming the validity checks of the apparatus performed by test devices 46 have authenticated the bill, a payout will occur. After the payout, due to the fact that the bill slide is inclined slightly downwardly, it will naturally slide back out to its fully extended portion until cam 40 abuts against shoulder 36 provided on cam 32. This action may be assisted by suitable springs if desired. Actually with the bill slide in the full outward position the shoulder 36 of cam 32 actually rotates cam 40 in a direction indicated by arrow 5211 so as to positively lift the rollers 52 clear of the bill chamber 16. The apparatus thus is readied for another validation and payout cycle. It can be readily visualized that the unique relationship of the cam mountings provided on the rod 42 and the bill slide 14 readily achieve the objects of the invention by providing apparatus which moves the reticle means transversely to the sliding movement of the security in the testing area. In this manner both the horizontal and/ or vertical lines in the background of the per trait or other sections of most paper currency can be tested to authenticate the security.

What is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus for authentication of paper securities having substantially parallel equally spaced lines on some portion thereof, the combination of:

frame means defining a testing area,

means movably received by the frame means to receive a security to be validated, said means being movable in a linear direction relative to the testing area, reticle means positioned in the testing area in close spaced relation to the portion of the security having the substantially parallel lines, said reticle means having equally spaced substantially parallel lines substantially equal in number per inch to the substantially parallel lines on the security and positioned in substantially parallel relation thereto, and means cooperatively coupled to said means movably received by the frame to simultaneously move said reticle means in such direction that the lines of the reticle are moved substantially transversely to the lines of the security while maintaining their substantially parallel relation to the security.

2. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said means to move said reticle means transversely to the sliding movement of the security in the testing area include:

a first cam member fixed to said means movably received by the frame means, said cam member being received by a slot in said frame means as the means holding the security is moved linearly relative to the testing area, said cam member having at least a por tion of its outer exposed surface inclined to the frame means, rod means slidably received in said frame means and having the reticle means fixedly mounted thereto, and

a second cam member affixed to and radially extending from one end of said rod means and being adapted to slide along the inclined outer surface of said first cam member as the means holding the security is slid relative to the testing area to thereby effect transverse movement of the rod means and the reticle means.

3. The combination according to claim 2 and includmg:

compression spring means positioned on said rod means and extending between said second cam member and said reticle means to bias said second cam member into sliding contact with said first cam member.

4. The combination according to claim 3 and including:

roller means operatively aflixed to and downwardly extending from said reticle means, the sliding movement of the second cam member along the inclined outer surface of the first cam member tending to impart a slight rotation to said rod means to bias said roller means into engagement with the security.

5. The combination according to claim 4 where the first cam member has a stop thereon which engages the second cam member with the means holding the security in the fully outward position to rotate the reticle means away from the means holding the security.

6. The combination according to claim 2 and including limit switch means mounted to said frame means ad jacent said slot to limit the forward sliding movement of said first cam member therein.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,964,641 12/1960 Selgin.

RONALD L. WIBERT, Primary Examiner ORVILLE B. CHEW II, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 19.4 4; 356-244 

